Being one of the top personalities in NBA media, ESPN’s Shams Charania had a lot of pressure on him Friday night.
The NBA Insider was taking the court for the All-Star Celebrity Game. When it comes to non-media celebs who participate, they aren’t under a microscope with players. In Charania’s case, the players he reports on wanted to see how he would play when the roles are reversed.
As the game was playing out, a shot of Charania checking his phone while on the bench stood out to the Houston Rockets superstar, Kevin Durant. The forward took to social media to call out Charania.
“My goodness, have some respect [Shams Charania]…during the game??????????”
Being plugged in to most rumors and transactions across the NBA, Charania is typically attached to his phone, checking in on the latest scoops around the league.
Durant and many other NBA stars have commented on Charania and his reporting before. The veteran wanted to poke fun at the fact that he couldn’t keep his phone away for the entirety of the game, while the superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo continued taking shots at Charania throughout the night, making fun of his basketball skills.
For Antetokounmpo, Friday’s action was a good opportunity to get his payback after Charania spent a chunk of the 2025-2026 NBA season reporting on Giannis’ future with the Milwaukee Bucks, suggesting he could move before the NBA trade deadline.
Ultimately, nothing happened on the Giannis trade front. Antetokounmpo remains with the Bucks throughout the remainder of the season. He is expected to return sometime soon after missing a few weeks due to a calf injury.
As for Charania, his on-court debut at an NBA event probably didn’t go as planned. He attempted four shots from the field, none of which were successful. According to Underdog, Charania checked his phone three times throughout the event, but didn’t log a single point.
Fortunately for Charania, he can go right back to the insider game after having a tough night on the court, personally.
The Nuggets might’ve been guilty of coasting Monday, but they could afford to coast.
Scoring the first 19 points of the game and leading by 25 after the first quarter, Denver bounced back from its largest loss of the season with a 135-112 blowout win over the Jazz at Ball Arena.
The Nuggets (21-7) haven’t lost consecutive games yet this year. They’re about to play 10 of their next 13 on the road, including a back-to-back Tuesday in Dallas.
Jamal Murray led all scorers with 27 on Monday, but this was a comprehensive team win. Peyton Watson added 20 points on nine shots in his return from a trunk injury that sidelined him for the last two games. Cam Johnson made all six of his 3-pointers. Nikola Jokic had a triple-double five minutes into the third quarter, on his way to 14 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.
Utah pushed the deficit inside of 20 points a couple of times, but Denver’s dominant start was more than enough to handle business against a division foe.
Jokic started the onslaught with a pair of jump shots. Then Murray and Watson joined in. Watson reached double figures about five minutes into the game. It took Utah another three minutes after that to get to 10 as a team.
Jamal Murray (27) of the Denver Nuggets makes a three pointer over Keyonte George (3) of the Utah Jazz during the second quarter at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The Nuggets scored 15 fast-break points in the first quarter alone. They shot 9 of 14 from deep and assisted on 13 of their 15 total made shots. The Jazz put up nine more field goal attempts than Denver in the frame but still trailed 40-15 when the dust settled.
The 19-0 run fell just short of Denver’s season-best 20 consecutive points in a win at Atlanta.
The Nuggets were fresh off their least efficient offensive game under new head coach David Adelman, a 115-101 loss to Houston that featured season-lows in points and field goal percentage (40.2%). They could’ve used some of their shot-making Monday in that slugfest. They converted a season-high 24 buckets outside the arc. It was their third time this year making 22 or more, aided by a 6-for-11 push from Tim Hardaway Jr. off the bench.
He came alive in the second half to hold off Utah’s best comeback efforts. All-Star candidate Lauri Markkanen was back in the Jazz’s lineup after missing the last two games, and he put up 27 points and eight boards in the loss.
“It’s very challenging, not to mention where he shoots the ball from,” Adelman said. “Jokic is like that, too. Once he gets to his spot, that’s it. We just had to deal with Kevin Durant for two games last week, and you have to do your work early with a guy like Lauri. Just with the size and the touch and the way he shoots it, everything has to happen before he can get there. You can’t hope you can contest late with him. Special player, unique player.”
Bruce Brown and Kevin Durant probably won’t be sending each other Christmas cards.
They played together in Brooklyn for two years. They competed against each other in a playoff series in 2023, when the Nuggets eliminated the Suns in six games. Their relationship as former teammates has “been cool,” according to Brown. Until Dec. 20, 2025.
“I think it’s been cut slow now, after tonight,” Brown said Saturday. “Some words were said that’s a little disrespectful. I can’t wait to see him next time.”
Brown told reporters that on separate occasions, Durant said something to him and to another Nuggets player that crossed a line.
“As a man,” Brown said, “there’s certain things you don’t say to another man.”
Durant agrees.
“I definitely wanted to cross the line tonight,” the two-time NBA Finals MVP said, smiling. “That’s basketball. That’s in between the lines. Ain’t no respect. Ain’t no love. Nothing. People don’t show love to me. They cross the line a lot with their physicality. It’s just part of the game. Some people can talk and play. Some people can’t. I had to learn how to talk and play as a player. So I think Bruce is probably learning the same thing.”
Denver Nuggets guard/forward Bruce Brown (11) and Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) get chippy during the second half on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
With 2:40 to go in the third quarter of a tight game between Western Conference title contenders, Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and made a floater. It cut Houston’s lead to 69-62 and prompted a timeout from Rockets coach Ime Udoka.
Brown immediately located Durant, who wasn’t involved in the play, and stared him down.
Both players declined to share the specifics of what Durant had said that offended Brown, but the Nuggets wing claimed Durant’s offensive comments had been ongoing “before and after” that moment.
“He said it before to someone else, and then he said it to me,” Brown said.
“Nothing that should be told to the media,” Durant added. “He knows. He understood. I understood. We know what that is. We don’t need to tell you about it.”
The Rockets pulled away for a 16-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Durant amassed 31 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win, shooting the 3-pointer at a 5-for-6 clip. Brown compiled 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for Denver.
“We’re coming in here and playing a championship organization with arguably, in my opinion, one of the top 10 players, five players that I’ve ever seen play basketball, you know?” Durant said, referring to Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. “That’s how much respect I’ve got for these dudes, that I want to get up and bring that energy. Bring that fight. It might go across the line. But that’s basketball sometimes. So Bruce will be all right.”
Durant continued to relish his role as the antagonist throughout the fourth quarter at Ball Arena. He and Tim Hardaway Jr. picked up matching technical fouls after Durant buried a three over the Nuggets guard. A few minutes later, Durant taunted Nuggets coach David Adelman when Adelman was ejected for arguing with the referees.
Then with about six minutes remaining, the eighth-leading scorer in NBA history made another 3-pointer, this time over Jamal Murray. It gave Houston a 98-81 lead. Durant pointed an imaginary gun in the direction of Murray and the crowd then danced down the court.
Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) celebrates a three-pointer during a 115-101 win over the Denver Nuggets during the second half on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
“Somebody in the crowd was talking crazy to me right before that,” he said. “So everybody enjoyed it. People in the stands enjoyed the game. Bruce and Tim Hardaway probably didn’t enjoy it. But I enjoy when we go back and forth. That’s basketball, you know what I’m saying? A lot of people say that’s missing from the game. When I do it, it’s a problem. But it was a fun game. Glad we got the win. I’m not celebrating like it’s the championship, but we lost two in a row (before Saturday). We wanted to win tonight.”
Adelman said he had no issue with how Durant made fun of him after the ejection. Jokic also weighed in on the chirping.
“They can do whatever,” he said. “I think some people like to do that. Some people don’t care. I think some people get their energy from that. So I’m OK. I don’t care.”
Durant has long held deep admiration for Jokic, but he also bickered with Nuggets fans on social media for being too devoted to him during the 2024 Paris Olympics. People from Denver who were rooting for Jokic’s Serbian national team to beat Team USA in the semifinals of the basketball competition, Durant asserted, were “lame.” No basketball player in history has won as many Olympic gold medals as Durant, who has four.
“A lot of people may disagree with me right now, but I feel like (Jokic and I) have a similar mentality with how we approach the work, just the game itself,” he said Saturday, smirking as if he recognized the comparison might irritate Nuggets fans. “And I can sense that from afar. So I always have respect for him. … But when we’re playing against each other, once again, we might cross the line.
“So if that offends you, that’s on you. Next game, I’m sure Bruce will be better from that. But I crossed the line tonight.”
When they were Brooklyn Nets teammates in 2022, Durant got annoyed at an unfiltered comment Brown made to the media about the Boston Celtics, saying that Brown’s blunt criticism gave Boston bulletin board material in a playoff series between the two teams. Brooklyn got swept.
Durant has since been traded twice, going to Phoenix and now Houston. Brown, who won an NBA championship in Denver, reunited with the Nuggets last offseason after two years away.
The Nuggets prevailed in overtime when they hosted Houston last Monday in another emotionally charged game, adding to the tension surrounding the Saturday rematch. Udoka was fined $25,000 by the NBA for his postgame comments about the refs after Monday’s contest, while Adelman also felt the whistle had disadvantaged his team. Jokic and backup big man Jonas Valanciunas both fouled out in the eventual win, leaving Adelman without a center at the end of overtime.
Denver still leads the season series 2-1 after the loss on Saturday. One more regular-season meeting remains on the schedule, but it’s not until March 11, 2026.
“Walking off the court, I was asking when we’re gonna play them again,” Brown said. “… I can’t wait.”
The night before emotions boiled over between him and Durant, Brown was taking in a Colorado Avalanche game at Ball Arena. A loyal supporter of Denver’s NHL team, he said his main takeaway was that “I wish there was fighting” in the NBA. “I wish we didn’t get a fine.”
Would Brown have dropped the gloves on Saturday with Durant if it was kosher?
The Houston Rockets came back to defeat the Orlando Magic with a 117-113 overtime nail biting win at the Toyota Center Sunday night. Kevin Durant led the way for the Rockets with 35-points, with Alperen Sengun also providing his crucial 30-points and twelve rebounds. (Photos by Cody Barclay)
The Houston Rockets were the number two seed in the NBA last year, a tremendous feat given they were just a couple years removed from a losing record for three years in a row. Their defense and some of the best offensive rebounding the league has seen in a long time catapulted them onto a list of contenders in the 2024-25 season.
Those defensive attributes and the offensive rebounding hasn’t changed, but what has not only makes them contenders again, but arguably one of the real threats to dethrone the Thunder in the Western Conference.
1. Field Goal Percentage Rank Last Year: 21st (45.5) Rank This Year: 7th (49.4)
You might be tempted to pin this almost entirely on Kevin Durant and, well, you’d probably be right. Durant is shooting just under 50 percent from the floor for the season. He is a career 50 percent shooter from the field. The math isn’t complicated. Jalen Green shot just 42 percent from the floor last year. Durant from 15-17 feet is like someone else shooting a layup. Other Rockets are at or just below their career shooting from the field. Add a great shooter to a team of so-so shooters and suddenly your offensive net rating goes from 110.3 (12th) to 121.7 (1st), a massive jump for a team that already dominates on the other end of the floor.
2. Three Point Percentage Rank Last Year: 21st (35.8) Rank This Year: 1st (42.8)
Look, this number is not going to stay here. Expect the Rockets to come somewhat down to earth as they go through the season. But, anything above 36 percent would be a huge leap. If they shoot over 37 percent, they will likely be in the top 10 in the league. Considering they’ve gone from close to the top in attempts to literally the bottom of the NBA, Coach Ime Udoka will probably look to increase those numbers, which will push that percentage down. But, even marginal improvement is going to make them insanely tough to guard every night. Most teams in the league are average or below average on defense. The Rockets are going to steamroll a bunch of them if they keep shooting like this. And if Alperen Sengun goes from a career 28 percent from three to a very robust 39 percent (what he is shooting currently), he becomes practically unguardable.
3. Free Throw Percentage Rank Last Year: 30th (73.8) Rank This Year: 15th (78.8)
Credit everyone here for really working on their game. Steven Adams alone has jumped almost 40 percentage points, Sengun 11. There was a particular emphasis on freebies coming into this season, particularly with a career 90 percent shooter in Durant joining the team. They missed way too many last year. Even climbing to mediocre is a big improvement that will result in better success on the offensive end this year.
Kevin Durant was drafted, second over all, by the Seattle SuperSonics, a team that ceased to exist seventeen years ago. After his rookie season, the SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City, where they were rebranded as the Thunder. Since then, his influence has shaped not only every franchise he’s been a part of but the entire league. This is easily visible on the court: when he came into the N.B.A., big men were still primarily bruisers. He was long and willowy, with the grace and finesse of a guard; there was some confusion about what position he should play. Now the league is filled with talented big men who can pass and shoot and defend, who can’t be easily stopped or shoehorned. Durant was a protagonist in various narratives that dominated conversations around the league, particularly those concerning team loyalty, individual agency, the way that particular personalities interact, and what motivates players. That such stories—and not narrower discussions of tactics or estimated plus-minus or whatever—did seem to matter so much to so many people was, depending on whom you asked, for better or worse.
Durant, for one, was often exasperated at how he was portrayed. But he could never quite shake his status as a protagonist, and it’s not clear whether he even wanted to. He became M.V.P. while playing for the Thunder before turning a great Golden State Warriors team into a dynasty—and then ending the reign, when he decamped for the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets were a disaster, and his next team, the Phoenix Suns, failed even more dramatically. The way he played was never to blame: he still moves like water, with the same capacity for stillness or torrential force. Off the court, he dabbled in media projects with his entertainment company, Boardroom, and devoted himself to other interests, including, famously, responding to trolls on the internet. He likes the “dopamine hit” of clapping back, he has explained. “That’s like my coffee in the morning.”
Last Tuesday, on the N.B.A.’s opening night, Durant made his début with the Houston Rockets. His teammates are young and on the rise—coming off a fifty-two-win season, with eleven players under thirty years old, including three starters who are twenty-three or younger. Durant is thirty-seven. There has been a lot of talk about how much his teammates would learn from his élite example: how to train, how to eat, how to rest, how to compete. But he’s not there merely to teach. The Rockets have signed Durant to a two-year, ninety-million-dollar extension—a team-friendly deal, yes, but still the kind of money you pay to the player you expect will be the best on your roster. The Rockets are betting that Durant, despite being well past the retirement age of most players, can elevate them into genuine title contenders. He makes certain things feasible, including a lineup full of bigs that the team’s coach, Ime Udoka, has begun using, in an effort to stymie teams with more normal statures. I confess, however, that the narrative possibilities are, to me, even more tantalizing. This is an unpredictable chapter in the life of a complicated and compelling man.
The outsized relevance of the league’s oldest stars is not new. LeBron James is turning forty-one this year. Stephen Curry is thirty-seven, and will be playing for the Warriors alongside Al Horford (thirty-nine), Jimmy Butler (thirty-six), and Draymond Green (thirty-five). And the Warriors are not even the oldest team in the league; that would be the Los Angeles Clippers, God help them. Athletes across numerous sports have been prolonging their careers, with more focus on nutrition, training techniques, and financial incentives. But the trend seems especially noticeable right now in basketball.
This is surprising given some of the ways in which the league is changing. The pace of the game is becoming increasingly punishing. More and more teams are playing full-court defenses and trapping ball handlers. These strategies favor fresh legs and bodies with less wear and tear, younger players who can endure the long regular season and hold up in spring.
And a number of dominant players have arrived in the league after the James-Curry-Durant cohort: Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is now thirty, has been an unstoppable force. Nikola Jokić, also thirty, is widely seen as the best player in the league. The current M.V.P., Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is twenty-seven, and Luka Dončić, a favorite to become the next M.V.P., is twenty-six. The average age of the champion Thunder is 25.6 this year, nearly eight years younger than that of the Clippers—and the team that the Thunder beat in the Finals, the Indiana Pacers, also played a rotation that consisted almost entirely of players who were thirty and under. The Thunder are the consensus pick to win the championship again this season.
It’s basketball season. It’s game one. The Rockets are hyped this year and were playing the defending champions on their ring night on national TV. So, of course there are going to be overreactions no matter what happened. But, it doesn’t mean at least some of them aren’t justified.
Thing is, what happened is the Rockets nearly took out the champs in a double overtime thriller. If this is anything like what this season will be, well, get the antacid ready and maybe keep your cardiologist in your phone favorites.
Fans were mostly mixed in their reactions, but the tendency to freak out definitely happens, so let’s dive into four of the notable early season panic mode narratives and whether or not they have real merit.
Kevin Durant didn’t touch the ball enough, especially in crunch time.
Validity: 3 out of 10
Lou Dort is one of the league’s most tenacious defenders and he spent all night living inside Durant’s shorts. He denied him the ball over and over. Rarely will the Rockets face a defense like they did in Oklahoma City. It could be argued these are the two best defenses in basketball squaring off, so it’s no surprise they both had their struggles on offense. Undoubtedly, Durant will find his footing and begin asserting himself as the season moves along, but on one night, anyone can be shut down. Conversely, Alperen Sengun went OFF for 39, which is what happens when you have multiple studs in your lineup. This is something that will solve itself in time.
This team still doesn’t shoot well.
Validity: 6 out of 10
Speaking of Sengun, not only did he hit a career five threes, but he looked absolutely comfortable taking them. If he can shoot even close to this over the course of the season, his transition to Jokic-lite may be complete. The problem is, take away Sengun’s 5-8 from downtown and you’re left with the rest of the team going 6-31 including 0-11 from Durant and Amen Thompson, who launched 7 threes. Reed Sheppard went 2-7 and Jabari Smith, Jr. 2-6. Tari Eason, 1-4, in a particularly bad outing for him.
Some of these numbers will improve. Durant is a good distance shooter and Smith should be solid again this season. The jury is out on Sheppard (more on that in a minute) and Eason. Anything we get from Thompson is gravy. But, this is still a team that will rely on offensive rebounding and defense to win games. If anyone thought they would suddenly vault to the top 10 in shooting, they were fooling themselves, especially against a team as good as the Thunder.
Reed Sheppard is a bust.
Validity: 4 out of 10
We can all agree the 2024 draft was…well…not great. Sheppard was drafted third to a team that didn’t really need another rookie, but hoped he could become a solid point guard option and, in particular, sniper. While he improved as his rookie season went on, we are still looking at a very young, very inexperienced player on the floor. It showed in his first game of the 2025-26 season. He had 9 points and 4 assists with 2 turnovers, but defensively, he looked overmatched against the champs.
To be fair to Sheppard, he probably wouldn’t have gotten heavy minutes in OKC (27 total) if not for the FVV injury. He did what he could to manage what must have been an overwhelming situation in a playoff atmosphere despite what the calendar said. It was trial by fire and he got burned. But, don’t assume that he cannot contribute. This team will be good with or without Sheppard, but they would be better if they can get something from him, particularly in the dog days of the season when they will need his energy and shooting.
Our point guard spot is a problem.
Validity: 7 out of 10
We knew this. Fred VanVleet’s injury is a problem for the Rockets. His presence on the floor and his knack for not turning the ball over will be sorely missed. We saw it on night one when the team turned the ball over 20 times before overtime. But, the problem isn’t just FVV, it’s the depth issues that he created when he was injured just weeks before training camp.
Most believe that Amen Thompson will make more than a capable replacement and his size makes the Rockets opening night lineup the tallest in NBA history. The bigger concern is what to do when Thompson isn’t on the floor. Sheppard will have to step up, but if he is unable, that leaves Aaron Holiday, a capable backup, but not for extended minutes. And if Thompson misses any time — his end-of-game leg cramps were a problem in game one — this will become an even more glaring weakness.
The Rockets have been on an upward trajectory the last three seasons finishing second in the Western Conference in the 2024-25 season before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs. It’s a far cry from three straight seasons of absolute misery and high draft picks. But, as the organization would say, improving is not enough. They feel like they are now ready for actual postseason contention in a stacked conference.
GM Rafael Stone did his part in acquiring Kevin Durant from Phoenix this summer while also adding wing Dorian Finney-Smith and bringing back veterans like Fred VanVleet and Aaron Holiday. Now, it will be up to head coach Ime Udoka to figure out how to blend this very talented, but slightly off-kilter lineup to try and top where he took his squad last season.
There are plenty of questions to be answered about the upcoming season. Let’s try to answer a few of them.
How do they make up for the loss of VanVleet?
The Rockets are a big-heavy team. It makes them formidable defensively and on the glass, but they are less flexible in the backcourt. Losing VanVleet the week before training camp to a torn ACL makes an already light guard group look downright concerning. FVV was critical for the team less because of his pure numbers and more because of the steadiness he brought on the floor. Prior to his arrival, the Rockets were one of the worst turnover teams in basketball. Since, they have been near the top of the league. He really does make that substantial of a difference.
Now, this will be more of a point-by-committee situation with Amen Thompson (more on him in a moment) and Reed Sheppard (also him) splitting most of the duties while sprinkling in Aaron Holiday. Can they re-create FVV in the aggregate? We’ll see.
Are they really going to go that big? Really?
The “double big” lineup of Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams was effective down the stretch last season. Udoka has already said they plan to employ it liberally this year, especially now that they’ve added Clint Capela and Durant. But how big will they go, exactly. Udoka has hinted at a lineup of Adams, Sengun, Durant, Jabari Smith, Jr. and Amen Thompson. They could sub in Tari Eason or Dorian Finney-Smith at one of the wings as well.
While not a row of seven footers, they might as well be with their collective wingspan. The issue is whether or not that lineup would be effective for more than short bursts of time. Defensively, they would almost certainly need to employ mostly a zone defense, which can be susceptible to good shooting teams and those that work the baseline. It will be fascinating to watch, but hard to imagine they could use this as much as some might believe.
Is Reed Sheppard ready?
It feels a little strange to wonder how a player who was mostly an afterthought last season could be the lynchpin to the Rockets success this year, but when VanVleet went down, Sheppard became their most viable option for a traditional point guard currently on the roster. While he was the third pick in the 2024 draft, it was a pretty weak draft year. In other years, he might have gone later in the first round.
Still, Sheppard has a lot of the qualities the Rockets need in a point. He’s a great passer and ball handler. He shot lights out from three in college. And he’s got very quick hands which made him one of the better pickpockets in the draft. But, is he ready? After limited minutes in his rookie season, he’ll get the first crack at holding down a big chunk of the point guard duties this year. The Rockets probably won’t fall off the edge of the Earth if he isn’t up for the challenge, but if he is, and becomes a quality NBA guard this year, their ceiling seems almost unlimited.
Will Amen Thompson become a superstar?
The other likely guy to see time at the point is Thompson, a wonderfully athletic, gifted player who made All-NBA First Team Defense last season. He is still working hard to improve his outside shot and, if he does, he has the stuff to be one of the best players in the world.
This is his third year and he’s already showing signs of being that guy. The Rockets will need him for a lot this year. Defense, getting to the rim, finding open players on offense, and, most importantly, helping to keep the team together. It’s a heavy burden he will have to carry, but he seems up to the task.
How healthy will Durant remain?
Since missing all of the 2019-20 COVID season to injury, Durant has struggled to remain healthy and on the floor. In the four seasons after 2020, he played in 35, 55, 47 and 39 games. The last two, however, he’s played in 75 and 62 games, which is about as healthy as he has been since they year before his season lost to injury.
At 37, he is still one of the best in basketball (ranked 15th by ESPN this year), but there is no question the Rockets will do everything they can to maximize Durant’s longevity for the playoffs, including resting him when needed. If he plays in 60-plus games this year, it would be a victory for everyone. The key is having him healthy for the postseason.
Could Stone make another huge deal during the season?
The Rockets are absolutely loaded with tradable assets, more than any other contending team in the NBA, thanks to Stone’s clever managing of the team’s draft and player salaries. They own two first round picks from Phoenix and a pick swap with Brooklyn over the next few years when both of those teams promise to be awful.
Additionally, they have some young players on reasonable contracts including Smith and Eason. If the Rockets wanted to make a big swing during the season for another franchise-level talent, they probably could. Obviously, with the VanVleet injury, it would be tempting to eyeball backcourt help if they need it. For now, expect them to stand pat and wait. They can afford it and understand they will likely be repaid for their patience.
One preseason game in and all is well with the Houston Rockets. Alperen Sengun continues his offseason dominance, first with Eurobasket and then with one half against the Atlanta Hawks. Kevin Durant is set to make his debut Wednesday and most everyone is completely healthy.
If the season ended today, the Rockets would be in the postseason!
We kid. Point is, it is one of four preseason games in and we really don’t know what this team is going to be. We can guess they will be quite good, maybe even championship caliber. But, at this point, who can speculate? We can!
Let’s start with a much, much too early look at the 15-man roster because we have time on our hands and nothing to worry about…yet.
STARTERS
Alperen Sengun Kevin Durant Amen Thompson Jabari Smith, Jr.
Coach Ime Udoka has basically said these four will be in the lineup when the ball is tipped in game one. From a purely size and athleticism standpoint, this is going to be a beast for teams to wrangle. The question is whether Thompson will fill the point guard role or remain a wing with someone else starting at the point. The front line of Sengun, Durant and Smith will do damage.
STARTER OPTIONS
Reed Sheppard Tari Eason Dorian Finney-Smith
Here is the intrigue. If Sheppard can make a jump from his rookie season, he could fill the shoes of injured guard Fred VanVleet. Interestingly, he has a similar size and style of play to FVV, but in only his second year, he will need to make a lot of progress. If Udoka decides to go with Thompson at the point, expect Eason here to start the season with Finney-Smith possibly getting his way into the starting lineup after fully recovering from offseason ankle surgery. Regardless of who is in the starting five, the other two will be critical components in the Rockets rotation.
KEY RESERVES
Stephen Adams Clint Capela Josh Okogie Aaron Holiday
Adams and Sengun formed the double-big lineup that was so successful toward the end of last season and Udoka intends to continue deploying it, but now with Capela as an added wrinkle, both because he has a different set of skills from Adams and because Adams will not play every game this year. Okogie, who signed with the Rockets as a free agent, might surprise some. He’s a skilled defender with a wide body at just six-foot-four. Holiday hopes to continue his 50-percent-plus three-point shooting from the final third of last season as a safety net at point guard.
FILLING OUT THE BENCH
Jae’Sean Tate Jeff Green
Tate and Green were part of a trio of Rockets players brought back (including Holiday) both for continuity and skillset. Tate is a spark plug defender who out-hustles virtually everyone on the floor. Green is the solid veteran big man who provides both in-game experience and a solid mentor for the younger players. Neither will play every night (maybe not every week), but they provide quality depth to a team that is pretty loaded on talent.
ON THE BUBBLE
JD Davison Kevon Harris Cameron Matthews
Out of the three, Matthews, and unrestricted rookie free agent known for his tenacious defense, probably has the best shot of making the roster since both Harris and Davison are two-way players who can be shuttled back and forth from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. This final spot could also be filled by a veteran if the Rockets sign someone in camp. But, don’t sleep on Davison, the G-League MVP last year. He can straight up shoot the ball as evidenced by his 17 points on 5-7 from deep against the Hawks.
When one door closes, another opens. Such is life in Houston sports with the Astros flaming out ahead of the postseason only to be replaced by the Kevin Durant-led Houston Rockets, who held their annual gathering of the media on Monday at Toyota Center.
This year was a bit different for this Rockets team coming off their first postseason appearance since the pandemic bubble year of 2020 and introducing their latest acquisitions. It’s always all smiles on Media Day, but there was plenty to talk about.
Media training for the team when it comes to contract discussions is on point.
When ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst asked GM Rafael Stone about Durant signing a contract extension, Stone said, “You can ask, but I won’t answer because we don’t talk about contracts.” When a similar question was asked of Tari Eason about his own contract status, he responded, “You can ask, but I won’t answer because we don’t talk about contracts.” OK then.
Kevin Durant gave interesting and thoughtful answers at Media Day.
Kevin Durant is fascinating.
Forgive this reporter’s first impressions of Durant, someone I have never covered, but he seems like one interesting guy. All his answers are measured and thoughtful. He’s clearly “nerdy” as he described his detail oriented approach to perfecting his game. When he gave answers, he sounded almost guru-like. Also, he said he has no doubt he’ll sign an extension, so I guess he talks about his contract.
Jeff Green wants no part of coaching.
Jeff Green is never ever ever going to coach.
The last answer for the 19-year veteran who gave long and considered responses to every reporter was only two words, “Hell, nah!” The question: After all your experience as a player, do you think you’ll want to pursue coaching? Green dropped the words and then the mic before leaving to chuckles from the audience.
Dorian Finney-Smith is one of a handful of funny guys on this roster.
This team is full of characters.
If Monday was any indication, the Rockets won’t need a laugh track, but they might need a 7-second delay for bleeping out curse words. Multiple players jokingly dropped F-bombs in their answers — most notably Steven Adams who is known for his sense of humor and occasional R-rated language. When Adams was asked about Durant, the person, he said, “I mean, he’s not a dick.” Newcomer Dorian Finney-Smith said of Amen Thompson, that he should “Not give a f****” and just shoot. Later, Thompson would say, “Yes, I don’t want to give an eff.” How polite.
Clint Capela is really happy to be home.
Clint Capela is happy to be back in Houston, like really happy.
The former and now current Rockets center gushed about his “home” here in Houston. He didn’t say that he was unhappy in Atlanta, but he was beaming about his return, both to the city and the team where he got his start.
Jabari Smith, Jr. put on some muscle this summer.
Jabari Smith, Jr. is noticeably more muscular.
When Smith walked into the assembly area, it was clear he spent a LOT of time in the weight room over the summer. He shoulders were bulkier and he looked really lean. He said he spent a lot of time getting stronger and trying to improve his ability to handle the game. He seems extremely confident.
Reed Sheppard is ready for his second season.
Everyone is excited about Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard.
The love for Thompson should come as no surprise. He could be one of the league’s best young players with an extremely unique set of skills and he said he improved significantly on his distance shooting, which is bad news for the rest of the league. But, hearing players rave about how good Sheppard looks is promising (especially since he will get more minutes now with VanVleet out). Sheppard said he spent the first three weeks of the offseason not even touching a basketball, just playing defense and lifting weights. He’ll need all the strength he can get this year.
No one seemed as upset about Fred VanVleet’s injury as Alperen Sengun.
Everyone is bummed about Fred VanVleet.
Perhaps no one more than Alperen Sengun, who looked devastated when he spoke of the point guard’s torn ACL — he learned about it on the plane back to the states. VanVleet even spent time with Sengun his Turkey and it was pretty clear from the answers and he and Sengun have gotten pretty close.
Imagine Amen Thompson is the shortest guy in the lineup.
Could we get a massive all-big lineup?
Speaking of Sengun, if you saw any of his performances in the EuroBasket tournament, you should be excited. He looked phenomenal. With the return of Adams and the addition of Capela (never mind Durant), this is a team loaded with big men. When you factor in how well the team played in the double big lineup last season and the loss of VanVleet, we might see a jumbo package on occasion. Coach Ime Udoka hinted at the idea of the “biggest lineup in basketball” with Thompson at point alongside Smith, Durant, Sengun and Adams or Capela.
The league should be on notice about Tari Eason.
Tari Eason is pretty damn confident.
Feisty is certainly a word you can use to describe Eason, but he seemed genuinely perturbed at being left off the NBA top 100 players list over the summer. He spent his summer working on ball handling and shooting. His defense and toughness have never been in question. When asked if he wanted to see an expanded role on offense, he leaned into the mic and said quite directly, “Yes!” He’s also fully healthy to start the season. If his game is as big as the chip on his shoulder, other teams are in trouble.
The new hot dog with brisket is mighty tasty.
One of the great benefits of Media Day is being fed — often new food items — by Toyota Center staff. This year was no exception with some nice additions to the menu including a spicy brisket hot dog with pickles. You’ll want to check that out. I will never sleep on the cookies, which are some of the best you’ll ever try. And, this year, they have a make your own tart/pie station? I got fatter just looking at it.
Clippers guard James Harden, left, passes the ball while under pressure from Phoenix Suns guard Monte Morris during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen, right, shoots as Clippers guard Terance Mann defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Clippers guard James Harden, right, shoots as Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns center Mason Plumlee, left, shoots as Clippers forward Kai Jones defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, left, tries to keep the ball away from Clippers guard Terance Mann, center, as Clippers guard James Harden watches during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, left, shoots as Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Clippers center Ivica Zubac, left, reaches in on Phoenix Suns center Mason Plumlee during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen, right, shoots as Clippers center Ivica Zubac defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Clippers guard Terance Mann, left, shoots as Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, center, shoots as Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr., left, and guard Terance Mann defend during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Clippers guard Terance Mann reaches in on Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, left, during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, left, shoots as Clippers forward Nicolas Batum defends during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Clippers forward Kai Jones, left, reaches in on Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, left, blocks the shot of Clippers guard Terance Mann during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, left, blocks a shot by Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. during the second half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, left, drives toward the basket as Clippers forward Nicolas Batum defends during the second half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Clippers guard James Harden, center, shoots as Phoenix Suns forward Ryan Dunn, left, and guard Tyus Jones defend during the second half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, left, grabs a rebound away from Clippers center Ivica Zubac during the second half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, right, shoots as Clippers guard Terance Mann defends during the second half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, center, shoots as Clippers guard Norman Powell, left, and guard Kris Dunn defend during the second half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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Clippers guard James Harden, left, passes the ball while under pressure from Phoenix Suns guard Monte Morris during the first half on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
INGLEWOOD — Playing an opponent twice in eight days has its benefits. The teams know each other’s tendencies and remember what schemes they like to run.
So, when the Clippers hosted the Phoenix Suns for the second time in five games on Thursday night, recalling what happened before wasn’t an issue.
“There’s not any real advantage playing against three Hall of Famers, but we know what they are running,” Lue said. “We know how they tried to attack us last game. We know how we need to play, how to attack them.”
This game didn’t resemble the opening night contest in which the Suns won in overtime. In that game, the Clippers watched helplessly as hot-shooting Phoenix made all 10 of its free throws in the extra period. But it was a harbinger of things to come as the Clippers’ next two games came down to the final minute.
Nothing changed this time. After leading by as many as 19 in the first half, the Clippers again were left scrambling for an advantage in the waning moments of the game, an edge that never materialized.
“I mean, we just got to learn from it,” Lue said. “We got to continue to keep getting better. We got to close games better and just something to keep learning from. All five of our games have been close, come down to the wire. We’ve been fortunate to win two of them, but in any of those games, we could be 0-5. We could be 5-0.
“So, just staying the course, understanding that our margin for error is very slim. So, we can’t turn the basketball over. We can’t have defensive breakdowns, we can’t allow offensive rebounds, and then we got to take good shots and be good offensively.”
The Suns took advantage of the Clippers’ miscues to pull ahead by what looked to be an insurmountable eight-point lead at 115-107 on a floater by Royce O’Neale.
James Harden trimmed the deficit to six with 1:58 left and added a pair of free throws at the 1:25 mark to get the hosts within 115-111. The six-time All-Star guard made one of two foul shots before O’Neale buried a corner 3-pointer to give the Suns an 118-112 lead with 44 seconds remaining.
The Clippers (2-3) couldn’t mount any sort of comeback as their turnovers continued (they had six in the fourth quarter) and the clock ran out, dropping them to 0-3 at their new arena.
“All those things matter. Each possession matters until we understand that it’s going to be tough games, and like I said, we are in the game,” Lue said. “We are playing hard, we are competing, but we got to play smarter, and we got to be better.”
The Clippers did none of those things down the stretch. Every time the Clippers pushed ahead, the Suns (4-1) pushed back.
Phoenix was unstoppable in the third quarter, shooting 80% from the field on its way to a 51.2% mark for the game. The Suns also made 82.1% of their free throws (23 for 28).
Harden said the Clippers, with nine new players, are going through NBA-style growing pains.
“It’s definitely frustrating, but nothing we can do about it,” Harden said. “We got to find ways to get better.
“Obviously you want to win games … but it is what it is. If we were winning games in this, then it’s a conversation, but we kind of brush it off, so we just got to make sure we stick with it and we will.”
First, the Clippers need to learn how to stop the opponent’s stars.
Kevin Durant, who said fans in The Wall section affected him in the previous meeting, showed more poise the second time, scoring 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Fellow All-Star Devin Booker was seemingly unflappable, scoring a game-high 40 points on 11-of-18 shooting (5 for 9 from 3-point range) with eight assists.
Harden finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, his fourth triple-double as a Clipper, the fourth-most in franchise history, and eclipsed the 26,000-point mark (26,004). He is one of 20 players in NBA history to reach that mark.
Harden also notched his fourth consecutive game with a points/assists double-double, the longest streak by a Clippers player since Chris Paul in 2017.
Ivica Zubac posted another double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Norman Powell had 23 points.
Kevin Porter Jr., who has had a lackluster start to his Clippers career, had his best outing of the early season. Sporting green hair (part of his pregame Joker costume), he scored 14 points.
With Harden in charge, the Clippers jumped out to a double-digit lead and led 37-20 after one quarter. He had 12 points and seven assists in his first 11 minutes.
The Clippers eventually pulled away to a 19-point lead (46-37) in the second quarter, sowing the seeds for a potential blowout victory.
The Suns, despite playing without Bradley Beal (elbow), clawed their way back into the game, pulling to within 50-40 before Powell got hot, scoring eight consecutive points to put the Clippers firmly ahead going into halftime. They led 70-52 at the intermission and by 21 in the first minute of the third quarter, but the Suns outscored them 39-23 in the period.
Booker and Durant got going in the third to spark the Suns, combining for 20 points. O’Neale, who finished with 21 points, and Ryan Dunn, who had 16, also had some timely long-distance shots after the break.
Phoenix finished with 73 points in the second half.
“You can’t take no team lightly,” Harden said. “So, for us, I think it’s going to be a lot of close games and we just got to find ways to execute and win ’em. The last two were tough, but we’ll get there sooner than later.”
PHOENIX — Despite strong performances from Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, the Lakers dropped their first game of the season to the Suns, falling 109-105 on Monday night at Footprint Center to kick off their five-game trip.
Davis’ 30-point streak to start the season ended at three games. He finished with 29 points (12-of-24 shooting), 15 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.
Hachimura finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Reaves scored 23 points (8-for-15 shooting), including 17 in the second half, to go with eight rebounds and three assists.
But with the Lakers trailing 107-104 with 37 seconds left after Davis blocked a Devin Booker jumper that would have put the Suns ahead by five, Reaves missed a potential game-tying open 3-pointer out of a timeout with Booker (game-high 33 points) grabbing the rebound.
“It was a great look, it just didn’t go,” Reaves said. “You wish you could have those back. I’ve been thinking about it ever since the game ended. If I make that shot, a tie game, maybe we get a stop and we get a bucket.
“But, [there are] many possessions in the game where could have [done] something better. Execution was really good. Got the look that we wanted. I just didn’t make the shot. But, I’m going to shoot that every time and live with the results.”
The Lakers got another stop while still down 107-104 with eight seconds left, but the Suns intentionally fouled LeBron James, who struggled offensively for most of the game, to prevent him from attempting a potential game-tying 3-point shot.
James made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second. But the Lakers didn’t grab the offensive rebound and Bradley Beal (15 points) sealed the game with a pair of free throws, putting the Lakers at 3-1 on the season.
“I missed it on purpose to try to get the offensive rebound,” said James, who was noticeably under the weather and had been since Friday. “We had no more timeouts and didn’t come away with it.”
Kevin Durant had 30 points for the Suns.
“We said we wanted to be a process team – I liked our process,” Coach JJ Redick said. “I liked the way we started the game. I liked our level of competition to compete on the defensive end. They put you in a lot of tough spots. I have to go watch it, but it felt like, in some ways, we lost to Kevin Durant and Devin Booker’s ability to make tough 2s.”
Booker scored nine fourth-quarter points while Durant scored eight in the quarter, which the Suns won 33-22. All of Durant’s fourth-quarter points came within a two-minute stretch: a fadeaway jumper over Reaves to put Phoenix up 99-98 with 4:04 left; a pair of free throws to give the Suns a 101-100 lead; a 16-footer over Gabe Vincent after drawing the switch to put the Suns ahead 103-101 with three minutes left; and a 7-footer over Vincent and Hachimurua to give the Suns a 105-101 lead with 2:17 left.
“If there’s one thing to nitpick, it’s probably me,” Redick said. “I probably should have gone to the ‘fire’ [blitzing on defense] a possession or two earlier against KD. But I liked that group that we had out there defensively. I trust those guys.”
James was held to 11 points on 3-of-14 shooting, extending his record streak of double-digit scoring performances to 1,226 games but not doing so until late in the fourth when he knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the Lakers’ deficit to 105-104 with 1:58 left in the game.
“I would say for him and our group, we missed a lot of paint 2s,” Redick said.
The Lakers shot just 21 for 50 inside the paint, with James, who shot 67.3% inside the paint last season, going 0 for 5.
Redick added: “For [James], those are shots that he makes. In the fourth, he had that miss on the lefty lay. Missed a couple of those one-leggers that were right there in the paint. We gave him the space. They were very intentional about flooding when he was on that iso on either wing. So it’s something we probably need to talk about about how we want to combat that against teams that do that.”
The Lakers opened an 18-point advantage (26-8) midway through the first quarter and had a 31-15 advantage later in the period behind strong offensive play from Davis, hustle and taking advantage of the Suns’ slow offensive start.
Davis had 16 first-quarter points in nine minutes, with the Lakers also scoring seven second-chance points and getting easy baskets in transition.
But the Suns turned up their defensive intensity.
And the Lakers’ start-of-second and start-of-fourth quarter lineups, which have been an early bright spot, struggled in their minutes without Davis on the floor.
The Suns outscored the Lakers 17-4 in the seven minutes Davis sat between the first and second quarters, helping Phoenix take a 50-48 lead into halftime. The Suns outscored the Lakers 25-14 in the second, a quarter in which the Lakers only shot 27.3% (6 for 22) from the field.
“We should never have a 14-point quarter,” Redick said. “That’s on me as well. Part of that is me. I gotta make sure we’re running good offense. I felt like it was a little random. We got stalled out. We talked about it at halftime: for us to be a high-level offense, we gotta move bodies and we gotta move the ball. They gotta screen. They just kinda took us out of what we were doing initially and we were great in the second half. We executed great in the second half. It’s just that second quarter really hurt us.”
Reaves, Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell (14 points, eight assists) each scored eight third-quarter points, helping the Lakers win the quarter 35-26 and take an 83-76 lead into the fourth.
The Lakers’ start-of-fourth lineup struggled, allowing the Suns to open the quarter on a 14-3 run to take a 90-86 lead and helping them come away with the win.
The Lakers will continue their five-game trip against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
“Got to go in and try to not lose two in a row,” Davis said. “The mentality for us all year is to never lose two in a row.”
LeBron James made his Olympic return after a 12-year absence. Kevin Durant played for the first time this summer.
And the two most experienced Olympians on this U.S. team opened the Paris Games — not to mention a bid for a fifth consecutive gold medal for the Americans — with a near-perfect show.
Durant made his first eight shots on the way to 23 points in less than 17 minutes, James added 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and the U.S. rolled to a 110-84 win over Serbia in the Olympic opener for both teams on Saturday.
LeBron James shoots as Filip Petrusev, of Serbia, defends at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Michael Conroy / AP
They were a combined 18 for 22 from the field — 8 of 9 for Durant, 9 of 13 for James — as the U.S. had no trouble with the reigning World Cup silver medalists from last summer in the Philippines. Jrue Holiday scored 15, Devin Booker had 12 and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each added 11 for the U.S.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 20 points for Serbia, while Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 14.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday, with the U.S. taking on upstart South Sudan — a rematch of a 101-100 escape win for the Americans in an exhibition in London earlier this month — and Serbia meeting Puerto Rico in what could essentially be an elimination game for both teams.
Before the tournament started, Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic — who coached against the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” from the U.S. — said this version of the American squad was even better than that first NBA-star-filled bunch that took the world by storm at the Barcelona Games. And when told of that comment a couple of weeks back, U.S. coach Steve Kerr laughed it off.
“When Chuck Daly coached the Dream Team, he never called timeout,” Kerr said.
It took all of 2 minutes, 41 seconds of these Olympics for Kerr to call one. Serbia jumped out to a 10-2 lead, putting the Americans into a quick hole. Kerr subbed Joel Embiid out for Anthony Davis after that first stoppage and things changed in a hurry; a three-point play by James midway through the first gave the U.S. its first lead and a lob from James to Edwards put the Americans up 25-20 after one.
Kevin Durant passes the ball as he heads out of bounds while under pressure from Marko Guduric, of Serbia at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Michael Conroy / AP
By then, the Durant show was underway.
He finished his 8-for-8 first-half showing with a fadeaway, falling to the court, that beat the halftime buzzer for a 58-49 lead. And the lead steadily grew from there: Edwards shook free of Serbia’s Nikola Jovic for a nifty baseline score to make it 84-65 after three, a play so good that Curry was dancing in delight and mimicking using a video-game controller on the sideline.
Simone Biles competes in the floor exercise on Day Two of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Gymnastics Trials at Target Center on June 28, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Elsa/Getty Images
The highly-anticipated 2024 Summer Olympic Games are just around the corner with star athletes already taking their rightful place on Team USA. The Paris Summer Games promise to deliver a roster filled with the sports world’s top talent, including Steph Curry, LeBron James, Scottie Scheffler, Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Kevin Durant, Sha’Carri Richardson and more.
While athletes prepare for the Paris Summer Olympics, it’s the perfect time for fans to gear up to watch their favorite athletes go for the gold. This is your ultimate 2024 Summer Olympics viewing guide.
When are the 2024 Summer Olympic Games?
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games are scheduled to take place from Friday, July 26, 2024, through Sunday, August 11, 2024.
What is the host city for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games?
The host city for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be Paris, France.
How to watch the Paris 2024 Olympics
NBC and Telemundo will broadcast at least nine hours of coverage from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET each day. Some events will air on the USA Network, Golf Channel, CNBC and E!.
Peacockwill livestream every event of the Paris 2024 Olympics, including the opening and closing ceremonies and every Olympic basketball game.
How to watch the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games without cable
While many cable packages include NBC and the other channels broadcasting the 2024 Summer Olympics, it’s easy to watch the 2024 Summer Olympics if those channels aren’t included in your cable TV subscription, or if you don’t have cable at all. Your best options for watching are below. (Streaming options will require an internet provider.)
In addition to major sporting events like the 2024 Paris Olympics, Peacock offers its subscribers live-streaming access to NFL games that air on NBC and sports airing on USA Network. The streaming service has plenty more live sports to offer, including Big Ten basketball, Premier League soccer and WWE wrestling (including formerly PPV-only events such as WrestleMania). There are 80,000 hours worth of recorded content to watch as well, including hit movies and TV series such as “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation.”
A Peacock subscription costs $6 per month. An annual plan is available for $60 per year (best value). You can cancel anytime.
Top features of Peacock:
Peacock’s Olympic coverage will include “multi-view” options in which fans can curate their viewing journey, choosing the Olympic events they are most interested in watching.
Peacock will air exclusive coverage of PGA Tour events, Olympic trials and Paris Olympics 2024 events.
Peacock features plenty of current and classic NBC and Bravo TV shows, plus original programming such as the award-winning reality show “The Traitors.”
If you don’t have cable TV that includes NBC, one of the most cost-effective ways to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games is through a subscription to Sling TV. The streamer also offers access to Olympic qualifiers, the 2024 Paris Games, NFL football airing on NBC, Fox and ABC (where available) and NFL Network with its Orange + Blue plan. Also worth noting: Sling TV comes with 50 hours of cloud-based DVR recording space included, perfect for recording all the season’s top NFL matchups.
That Orange + Blue plan normally costs $60 per month, but the streamer is currently offering a 50% off promotion for your first month, so you’ll pay just $30. Sports fans may want to up their coverage with the Sports Extra plan, which costs $11 per month, and includes Golf Channel among others. You can learn more by tapping the button below.
Top features of Sling TV Orange + Blue plan:
Sling TV is our top choice for streaming major sporting events like Wimbledon.
There are 46 channels to watch in total, including local NBC, Fox and ABC affiliates (where available).
You get access to most local NFL games and nationally broadcast games at the lowest price.
All subscription tiers include 50 hours of cloud-based DVR storage.
You can add Golf Channel, NBA TV, NHL Network, NFL RedZone, MLB Network, Tennis Channel and more sports-oriented channels (19 in total) via Sling TV’s Sports Extras add-on.
You can also catch the 2024 Summer Olympics airing on network TV on Fubo. Fubo is a sports-centric streaming service that offers access to network-aired sports like the Tour de France, and almost every NFL game next season. Packages include the live feed of sports and programming airing on CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, NFL Network and more, so you’ll be able to watch more than just the Summer Olympics- all without a cable subscription.
To watch the 2024 Summer Olympic Games without cable, start a seven-day free trial of Fubo. You can begin watching immediately on your TV, phone, tablet or computer. In addition to Olympic events, you’ll have access to NFL football, Fubo offers NCAA college sports, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and international soccer games. Fubo’s Pro Tier is priced at $80 per month after your free seven-day trial.
Sports fans will want to consider adding on the $7.99 per month Fubo Extra package, which includes MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, Tennis Channel, SEC Network and more channels. Or upgrade to the Fubo Elite tier and get all the Fubo Extra channels, plus the ability to stream in 4K, for an extra $10 per month.
Top features of Fubo Pro Tier:
There are no contracts with Fubo — you can cancel at any time.
You can watch sporting events up to 72 hours after they air live with Fubo’s lookback feature.
The Pro tier includes over 180 channels, including NFL Network and Golf Channel.
Fubo includes all the channels you’ll need to watch college and pro sports, including CBS (not available through Sling TV).
All tiers come with 1,000 hours of cloud-based DVR recording.
You can watch the 2024 Summer Olympics and more top-tier sports coverage, including NFL Network, with Hulu + Live TV. The bundle features access to 90 channels, including Golf Channel. Unlimited DVR storage is also included. Watch the 2024 Summer Olympic Games and every NFL game on every network next season with Hulu + Live TV, plus exclusive live regular season NFL games, popular studio shows (including NFL Total Access and the Emmy-nominated show Good Morning Football) and lots more.
Hulu + Live TV comes bundled with ESPN+ and Disney+ for $77 per month.
Watch the 2024 Summer Olympic Games live with a digital HDTV antenna
Amazon
You can also watch the 2024 Summer Olympic Games airing on network TV with an affordable indoor antenna, which pulls in local over-the-air HDTV channels such as CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, PBS, Univision and more. Here’s the kicker: There’s no monthly charge.
For anyone living in a partially blocked-off area (those near mountains or first-floor apartments), a digital TV antenna may not pick up a good signal — or any signal at all. But for many homes, a digital TV antenna provides a seriously inexpensive way to watch sports without paying a cable company. Indoor TV antennas can also provide some much-needed TV backup if a storm knocks out your cable.
This ultra-thin, multi-directional Mohu Leaf Supreme Pro digital antenna with a 65-mile range can receive hundreds of HD TV channels, including ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox and Univision, and can filter out cellular and FM signals. It delivers a high-quality picture in 1080p HDTV, top-tier sound and comes with a 12-foot digital coax cable.
This antenna is currently $56 at Amazon, reduced from $70 with coupon.
2024 Summer Olympic Games schedule: Key dates
Getty Images
Below are key dates for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. For a full broadcast schedule of all events, including the opening and closing ceremonies, tap here.
Key dates for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games
Olympic Village Opens: July 13
Torch Relay in Paris: July 20 – July 26
Gymnastics: July 27 – August 5
Swimming: July 27 – August 4
Track and Field: August 1 – August 11
Breaking: August 9 and 10
Basketball: July 28 – August 9
Soccer: July 24 – August 10
Cycling (Track): August 1 – August 5
Volleyball: July 28 – August 11
Closing Ceremony: August 11
What new sports are included in the 2024 Summer Olympics?
32 sports will be represented at the Paris 2024 Olympics, including four new additions to the official competition: breaking, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing. All competitions will take place in and around Paris, save for the surfing competitions which will take place in Tahiti, a part of French Polynesia.
Fans may remember skateboarding and surfing made brief appearances at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Both sports make their official Olympic debut at the 2024 Paris Games this summer.
What is the official mascot of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris?
Paris 2024
The official mascot of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is called the Olympic Phryge. It is an adorable rendition of traditional small Phrygian hats. Decked out in red, white and blue, the colors of France’s famous tricolor flag, the Olympic Phryge symbolizes freedom throughout French history.
When is the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony?
The 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony is scheduled for July 26, 2024. For the first time in Olympic history, the opening ceremony won’t take place in a stadium. Instead, this summer’s opening ceremony will bring sports to the heart of Paris via the Seine River.
The 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony will consist of boats for each national designation traveling up the Seine through the center of Paris. Going from east to west, 10,500 athletes will cross through Paris before finally landing in front of the Trocadéro, where the remainder of the opening ceremony will take place.
Is LeBron James competing for Team USA?
Not only is Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James scheduled to compete for Team USA, but the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics will reunite former Golden State Warriors teammates Steph Curry and Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns).
Other famous faces fans can expect to see on the basketball court competing for Team USA include Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), James Harden (Los Angeles Clippers), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers) and Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves). Edwards’ teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t be on the court for the U.S. this summer, but will be competing for the Greek national team.
Team USA’s women’s basketball roster is equally star packed. Though Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark didn’t make the team this year, New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu will be representing the U.S. alongside Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury), Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces), Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury) and A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces).
Other notable athletes who have punched a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympics include track star Sha’Carri Richardson, golf star Scottie Scheffler, No. 1- ranked Nelly Korda, 20-year-old tennis sensation Coco Gauff and No. 5-ranked tennis ace Jessica Pegula.
An absolute stunner broke late Tuesday night, with fewer than 24 hours remaining before the start of the 2024 NBA Draft: the New York Knicks will acquire Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a package including four unprotected first-round picks, a lightly-protected first-round pick and a future first-round pick swap, as was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
BREAKING: The Brooklyn Nets have agreed in principle on a trade to send F Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks, a protected first-round pick via Bucks, an unprotected pick swap and a second-rounder, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/TEGsIpoa3b
Already referred to by many as the “Villanova Knicks,” New York now has four former Wildcats set to be critical pieces of their rotation moving forward: Bridges, superstar guard Jalen Brunson, sharpshooter Donte DiVincenzo and do-it-all wing Josh Hart.
With the Boston Celtics firmly cemented as the Eastern Conference’s best for the time being, the Knicks have chosen Bridges as the piece worth cashing in the vast majority of their assets for in hopes of catching up to defending champions. And now, there is more than one team that is head and shoulders above the Sixers in terms of present day talent.
Perhaps the most obvious ripple effects this move has on the Sixers are that there is another team in their conference with the potential to seriously contend for a championship, and that Bridges — seen by many as an ideal fit alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey — is officially off the table.
The intrigue of these four storied college teammates joining forces in the pros is fascinating, and the Knicks are filled with great players who are likable characters. But it is fair to wonder if four unprotected picks and several other assets for a player who has yet to make an All-Star team is the right path forward. Bridges is tremendous, and will fit like a glove in New York, but is he good enough to warrant a collection of draft choices like this? For what it’s worth, this archetype of trade has come back to bite the team acquiring the “star” more often than not.
But, to be fair, with the Celtics not going anywhere, New York doing all they can to maximize their championship window now that Brunson has emerged as a full-fledged superstar is understandable, and to a degree, even commendable.
Bridges, who the Sixers infamously drafted in 2018 before trading him to the Phoenix Suns during his introductory press conference in which he donned a Sixers hat, has become one of the most respected two-way wings in the entire NBA, and since being the centerpiece of the Kevin Durant trade that sent him to Brooklyn, he has made major strides as a scorer. He was overtasked as a go-to scorer in Brooklyn, and that will not be an issue anymore as he reunites with Brunson.
The next domino to fall here is the status of soon-to-be Knicks free agent OG Anunoby. As recently as Tuesday evening, it appeared Anunoby had enough negotiating leverage to receive just about any contract he desired from New York this summer. Now, with Bridges in the fold, the Knicks are not exactly desperate to bring Anunoby back.
If the Knicks were to let Anunoby fetch offers elsewhere and contemplate leaving New York, the Sixers loom as a potential fit for the acclaimed two-way wing.
Early indications are that the Knicks will prioritize reaching a deal with Anunoby in the near future, which would signal the exit of incumbent starting center Isaiah Hartenstein. But it is not difficult at all to imagine a world in which the Knicks —with DiVincenzo, Bridges, Hart and Julius Randle all under contract moving forward — opt not to give Anunoby the massive deal he is seeking and instead solidify their center position by bringing back Hartenstein.
As for the Nets, this was the right move: Bridges is a tremendous player, but was not leading the Nets anywhere promising in the near future given his lack of support. Accumulating as many draft picks as possible and accelerating the team’s rebuild was always the right call, and they furthered those goals by promptly trading a few of Phoenix’s future picks to the Houston Rockets to regain some of the draft capital they sent Houston when they acquired former Sixer James Harden a few years back. Word quickly trickled out that Houston wants to offer those picks back to Phoenix to try to get Durant.
We have reached maximum levels of chaos, and tonight I am grateful I do not cover the Brooklyn Nets or Houston Rockets.
Another question: how does all of this impact the free agency of Paul George? First the Sixers seemed like a very possible destination for the nine-time All-Star, then they were out, now there are conflicting reports regarding their interest in the star wing who has yet to strike a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. Over the last few days, there was steam behind the idea of George forcing a sign-and-trade from the Clippers to a contending team without the requisite cap space to sign him on their own — perhaps using the threat of heading to Philadelphia as leverage to force the Clippers’ hand — but many speculated that destination would be New York. They are almost certainly out of those talks now (if they ever took place to begin with), which could reopen the George-to-Philadelphia door.
If the events of late Tuesday night are any indication, nobody actually knows what is in store over the course of the coming days and weeks. But it is going to be madness, and the Sixers could end up being right at the center of it all.
LOS ANGELES — They showered Darvin Ham with boos as the coach was introduced before opening tip. They bombarded him with more pointed chants before time expired in an otherwise lifeless building.
“Fire Darvin!”
But is this Ham’s fault? D’Angelo Russell’s? The bench’s? All of the above? The Nuggets have infiltrated Los Angeles and sowed instability within an American institution. The Lakers’ superstar foundation is crumbling under the overwhelming pressure of Denver’s starting lineup, which is on the verge of securing a second playoff sweep of Los Angeles in as many seasons.
“To beat a team like that in the first round, who I think if seeded differently, they could make it to the Western Conference Finals or something like that, it’s definitely a challenge,” Peyton Watson said. “But we’re up to it every time, and we love going out there and winning games.”
With every successive win — every identical win — the unthinkable becomes closer to reality. The Nuggets might just own the Lakers.
If they finish the job Saturday in Game 4, they’ll accomplish what not even the Steph Curry-Kevin Durant Warriors could, eliminating LeBron James via sweep two years in a row. Golden State needed five games in 2017.
“They do not have a weakness offensively,” James said. “… Definitely one of the better teams that I’ve played in my career.”
Maybe Denver will need five games in 2024. But if there’s any reason to believe that now, it’s this: The Nuggets are clearly a danger to themselves in this matchup. They are prone to stretches, even entire halves, of complacency against an opponent that can’t hold a lead against them. The ongoing 11-game win streak features six double-digit comebacks.
“I think in this job as a coach, you always have to put on the hat of, ‘We have to fight human nature.’ And how do you do that when you’ve beaten a team 10 times in a row?” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said before Game 3, a 112-105 victory. “… Well, we’ve been down 12, we’ve been down 20. We’ve lost the first quarter of both games. We’ve been down at halftime in both games. That’s cool in your home building when you have that crowd behind you, but now it’s just us.”
Those turned out to be hollow words. Denver spotted Los Angeles an 8-0 lead that grew to 12 before everyone other than Aaron Gordon decided to take Game 3 seriously.
What followed was a 24-point swing between the second and third quarters. Like clockwork.
“To be honest, I think every game is tougher and tougher,” Nikola Jokic said. “You can see, they were up 20 in Denver, in Game 2. They were up 12 today in the first half. But yeah, I think it’s really hard to play against the same team over and over again. You kind of get bored with the style of the play or whatever. So you just need to — especially for us, because we won the last three — just trust what we are doing and don’t get bored with success. Because it can (go) wrong really quick.”
Michael Porter Jr. (1) of the Denver Nuggets knocks down a mid-range jumper over Anthony Davis (3) of the Los Angeles Lakers during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 112-105 win at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
The Nuggets are so bored of this matchup that they’ve inadvertently become thrill-seekers, dangling a win in front of the Lakers every night only to pull it out of reach at the last second when Anthony Davis tries to snatch it.
Moments of redemption for the Lakers are short-lived against Denver. Davis’s dominant first half against Jokic in Game 2 was forgotten because he didn’t score in the fourth quarter. Russell’s 23-point bounce-back was superseded by his scoreless Game 3. In the first and third games, he combined to shoot 6 for 27.
The variations of a Los Angeles second unit have failed to take any advantage of Jokic’s rest minutes. Before Game 3, Taurean Prince was the only Lakers bench player who’d scored a point in the series. Nothing from Spencer Dinwiddie. Nothing from Gabe Vincent.
They finally contributed more offense in Game 3 — but the bench was still an inefficient 8 for 19 en route to 19 points.
Davis has been the Lakers’ best player according to the box scores. Los Angeles is plus-25 points with him on the floor in the first halves of these three games — and minus-41 with him on the floor in the second halves.
“This team’s been having the type of run they’ve had against our ball club; I think it’s just a lot of disappointment,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “Have to do a better job of staying focused, staying positive throughout it all, because again, you have those disappointment moments, what we call disappointment lags — that disappointment can spill over two, three, four possessions. And you see that someone makes a mistake, drop our heads, and we start jogging back instead of sprinting. But we have to fight through all of that. This is a hell of a team. … They push you to the limit in order to try and beat them.”
Moreover, the Nuggets push themselves to the limit in order to beat the Lakers. Not because they have to; because they can.
If AI technologies such as ChatGPT will one day rule the world, we may as well use their capabilities for our benefit while we still cling to control. With that thought in mind, Phoenix New Times recently concluded that the best way to interact with the future of everything was to ask how the sports landscape will unfold for Phoenix in 2024…
Kevin Durant, now in his first full season with the Phoenix Suns, explicitly stated that he did not want a tribute video in his return to Brooklyn. He did not think he deserved one. And in the days leading into Wednesday’s Nets-Suns matchup, many on social media debated whether the 14-time All-Star, who played just 129 games with Brooklyn, was with the franchise long enough to justify honoring him in that way.
Former fan favorites such as Bruce Brown and Joe Harris got tribute videos in their returns to Barclays Center. James Harden did not. And it remains to be seen whether Kyrie Irving will get one when the Dallas Mavericks visit Brooklyn on Feb. 6.
When the lights dimmed inside Barclays Center as Suns starters were announced, a tribute video is ultimately what Durant got despite his honest plea, about 24 seconds in length. The forward was greeted with cheers from Nets fans which quickly turned to boos each time he touched the ball on Wednesday night.
Durant, in superstar form, played like he still owned the place, too, pouring in a game-high 33 points with five rebounds and eight assists in Phoenix’s 136-120 win. Their victory snapped a two-game winning streak for the Nets (19-28), who have now lost 12 of their last 16 games.
Size mattered on Wednesday night. Ben Simmons was ruled out hours ahead of the game because of a left knee contusion suffered late in the fourth quarter of Monday’s win over the Utah Jazz, which was his first appearance in an NBA game since Nov. 6. The Nets were already without two rotation bigs in Day’Ron Sharpe (left knee hyperextension) and Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain), which left them thin in the frontcourt entering Monday’s matchup.
Phoenix’s Jusuf Nurkić took advantage, scoring virtually all 28 of his points at the rim. The Suns outscored Brooklyn 56-50 in the paint and dominated the glass 42-27. They shot 68.6% on two-point field goals and went 14-of-28 from deep.
Sparingly used forward Harry Giles III, 6-foot-10, did not get off the bench until the 1:26 mark in the third quarter. At that point the Nets trailed by 15 points. Unable to slow down a surprisingly lethal two-man game of Durant and Nurkić, Brooklyn was outscored 42-26 in the third quarter after trailing by just three points at halftime. The game was tied at 75 with 7:31 left in the third quarter.
And the Nets, who had 11 turnovers which led to 17 points for Phoenix, failed to make up much ground down the stretch, though they did cut their deficit to 10 points with 2:25 left in regulation. Allowing an opposing team to shoot 62% for the game is already difficult to overcome. It becomes even tougher when you foul 24 times, which led to 24 points at the free throw line for the Suns.
Six Nets players finished in double figures, led by Cam Thomas who had 25 points in his third consecutive start. Mikal Bridges added 21 points and six 3-pointers, the third time he has made at least six in his last five appearances.
The Nets will return to action on Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center. It is unknown at this time whether Simmons or Finney-Smith will be available to play. Wednesday marked 24 days since Sharpe first suffered his knee injury against the Portland Trail Blazers.
If it were up to Kevin Durant, he would’ve left the Nets sooner.
The superstar said as much Saturday, telling reporters that Brooklyn “refused to get rid of me” months before they traded him to the Suns in February.
“I tried, but time ran out,” Durant, who is back in New York to face the Knicks with Phoenix, said at Suns practice. “I wasn’t going to miss no games because of this whole thing, so once the season rolled around, I was just like whatever happens, it happens.”
“It worked out, perfect timing, the way it’s supposed to,” Durant said Saturday. “Regardless of anything, it’s been fun playing with [Devin Booker], living in Phoenix, and learning the system.”
The Durant trade came days after the Nets sent fellow superstar Kyrie Irving to Dallas, ending a tumultuous era of Brooklyn basketball in which the big-name duo only won one playoff series in three-and-a-half seasons.
Durant averaged 29.0 points over 129 games with the Nets. He’s averaging 31.4 points this season with Phoenix, which enters Sunday’s game at Madison Square Garden with a 10-6 record.
The Nets won’t see Durant for the first time since the trade until Dec. 13 in Phoenix. Durant’s first game back in Brooklyn is set to take place Jan. 31.
“It was the best decision of my career just to be able to ask for a trade,” Irving said before the game. “I knew I needed peace of mind.”
SHORT-HANDED HEAT
The Heat were far less than full strength for Saturday’s game in Brooklyn, with Jimmy Butler (ankle), Bam Adebayo (hip contusion), Tyler Herro (ankle) and Duncan Robinson (thumb) each ruled out on what was their second night of a back-to-back.
Butler scored 36 points — including 18 in the third quarter — in Miami’s Nov. 16 win over Brooklyn, while Robinson added 26 and Adebayo had 20.
Herro, who missed that game, led the Heat with 30 points in a Nov. 1 loss to the Nets.
NETS UNDERMANNED
The Nets remained undermanned, too, with guards Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas and Dennis Smith Jr. also ruled out with injuries Saturday.
Smith, who is considered day-to-day, has now missed three games in a row with a lower back sprain.
Thomas, who has missed seven straight games with an ankle sprain, was cleared for increased on-court activity, the Nets said Wednesday. Brooklyn’s leading scorer is expected to return to team activities within the week.
And Simmons, who has missed the last eight games, is dealing with a nerve impingement in the left side of his lower back. He recently began light individual court work.
Simmons underwent surgery to treat a herniated disk in his lower back in May 2022. A nerve impingement in the right side of his back ended his 2022-23 season after 42 games.
The next batch of cross-over operators was just announced for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Warzone, and it includes none other than Diablo IV’s Succubi queen Lilith and fallen archangel Inarius. Plus a bunch of other horror stars like Spawn and Evil Dead’s Ash Williams. No doubt it will be another bloodbath.
Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold
Activision revealed the season 6 operators on Thursday alongside teases for other horror-themed content, including the return of The Haunting event in October. The seasonal update goes live on Septmebr 27 and will even include a Doom-themed bundle complete with a chainsaw. Al Simmons will be one of the new operators alongside a host of Spawn-related skins, including a couple for the superhero himself as well as Creepy Clown and Violator.
Lilith, Diablo IV’s main antagonist, and Inarius, the hooded asshole, will be separate purchases added to the shop, joined by Skeletor (He-Man), Ash Williams (Evil Dead 2), and Alucard (Hellsing). I can’t wait to see how they play in the Call of Duty sandbox alongside rapper Nicki Minaj, NBA star Kevin Durant, and the Burger King guy. The upcoming event should make the time go a little faster until Modern Warfare 3drops on November 10.
For those who might not be aware, Call of Duty has been going fullblown Fortnite for quite a while now, mixing things up with wild cross-overs from across the pop culture landscape. In July it was characters from Amazon Prime superhero dramedy, The Boys, with Temp V abilities like Homelander’s red eye lasers torching every player in sight.
Some have bemoaned the silliness of it all for undermining the “very-serious” war shooter. Others enjoy the changing party costumes, if not always the seasonal grinds and prices that come with them. The weapons at least, like the Doom bundle, will carry over into Modern Warfare 3.
